Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-04-22
JUDGE HARCOURT.
His speech at WestherfOrd in Oppose
ton TO the Proposed PrOhib.
itory Amendment.
'It Were Easier to Keep the Stars Out of
the Sky than to Keep Prohibit
ton Out of Politics +"
SneclsI to the Gazette.

of the change of the date of the anti-Pro-
hibitiOn mass meeting to be held in this
city from Saturday the 23d to Thursday
the 2lst, the anniversary of the battle OF
San JaCinto, the meeting assembled at
O'Clock and was called to order by
Judge A. J. Hood making a motion that
Judge John T. HarcoUrt address the
meeting. The motion was unanimously
adopted, when Judge Harcourt came
forward with his usual grace and dignity,
and said:
FELLOW CITIZENS - While admitting
the purity and patriotism of ell with
whom it is my misfortune to differ on the
grave question now agitating the public
mind, trust l shall be permitted to ex-
press my earnest convictions in Opposi-
ton TO the proposed prohibitory amend
ment to the state constitution.
There is much confusion in the public
mind as TO the issue involved in this cam
paign. Many good people believe that it
is g contest between temperance and So
briefly on one side against intemperRnce
and drunkenness on the other; of moral
ity and virtue against immortality and
vice. There could be no two parties ar
Tayed against each other on such an ISIS ue.
All good citizens condemn intemperance
and drunkenness, and acknowledge the
great evil 1t produces in society; but that
is not the question before us. We have
had drunkenness and intemperance in
Texas ever since her brave defenders
achieved her independence on the GO
TiOUs field Of San JaCintO. With it all,
we have prospered as no other state has
ever prospered, and to-day we are
ali proud Of the gigantic grandeur and
glory Of our beloved Texas. We have
been content, heretofore, to do battle
against the evils of intemperance by the
moral teachings Of our fathers and of the
ministers Of the gospel in their proper
sphere in the pulpit. We have had proper
and safe statutory laws for the license
and regulation of the liquor traffi;. We
can to-day boast of our city of Weather
ford as one noted for its morality and So
briefly, and that Texas has less drunken
ness than can be found in many OF the
prohibition states. Not satisfied with
the growing greatness of our state, and
the general prosperity Of our people, we
have been preCipItaled into an exciting,
unfriendly strife by agitatOrs who live
on agitation, and travelling lecturers from
Legislature OF Texas has submitted to
vote of the people q constitutional amend
ment prohibiting the manufacture and
sale of whisky, wines and beer as d beV-
erage in Texas. This involves only
question of state policy, and the great
question is, what is best for the state of
Texas and how Will it affect business
and values? You VIII observe that
n1l 70 no
manufacture and sale 1t does not for
bid the importation or use Of intoxicating
LIQUORS in Texas. The amendment, if
adopted, would perhaps be only a blank
cartridge fired across the bow of the ship
of state. 1t would, however, decrease
the annual state revenue about 81 ,00t 200,
without any practical good in restraining
the evils of the liquor traffic. No whisky
has ever been manufactured in Texas, but
large investments have been made in
grape culture and the manufacture of
native wine and beer. These are harmless
drinks, when used in moderation, and
with many are considered as neCessaries
of life and health. The Jews and Ger
mans nearly all drink wine and beer, and
are 8 prosperous and law-abiding people.
How Will this amendment affect popula-
ton? How will It affect immigration?
How will it affect all business and real
estate values? viii it check the growth
of Texas in her onward course? Will it
involve US in fanatical political
strife for ten or twenty years to come,
as il has in other prohibition states?
Win it prevent drunkenness and vice?
These are practical questions OF states
manship that cannot be answered by the
spasmOdiC frenzy of temperance lecturers. |
The most thoughtful minds of the COun-
try who have carefully investigated the
great evils of the liquor traffic, and the
excessive use and abuse of intoxicating
liquors, have given 1t as their deliberate !
Judgment that g proper restriction Of the |
traffic by high license is the most effec- /
tive legislative control over the subject, !
that free people ought to approve and |
infOTCe. By such means most of the dis |
reputable retail saloons will be closed, |
and all others subjected to such rigid |
existing laws as will secure good order |
and suppress crime. The advocates OfH
high license will protest against the evils |
Of lntempersnce and drunkenness, with |
rs much zeal as the most rampant Pro-
The great evil Of drunken
ness has existed everywhere, and at /
al times and in all countries, land it exists
to-day in the states of Maine and Vermont,
where the prohibition experiment has
Oeen tried for twenty years. The great
1elusion in the excited minds of good
people IS, that the dram shops and drink
ng saloons are the places where drunk
ards are made, and that if the drinking
houses could be closed, the great evil
would be suppressed. The practical ex-
)erience in other states will dispel this
ielusiOn.
The millennium has not yet begun, and
nan exists now Is he has existed always,
md with the same appetite and passions.
The amendment is no fight against whisky
IT the saloons, but the practical effect
will be to change the mode of traffic: to
invite g clandestine trade in spurious
md adulterated drinks, and discourage
he temperate use of native wines and
,eer.
When a man of such experience and
as Judge j. II. Reagan mis-
onceives the character Of the amend
nent and the political issue involved, it
$ not strange that others of an excitable
should also be misled by the
popular clamor. In his open letter Judge
Reagan directs his powers OF invective
gsinst the drinking saloons. as the
laCe where drunkards and vagabonds {
re made Without logic or reason he /